SEUL: Re: [oswg] Introduction and some project scope questions

[Roger Dingledine <arma@mit.edu>]

> > For instance,
> > 
> > * We have a 'Why Linux?' article that is linked #2 from linux.org's advocacy
> > documents page and generates perhaps a thousand hits a day, but it hasn't
> > been updated for over a year.
> > http://www.seul.org/docs/whylinux.html
> 
> I'd like to help on this - should I just plunge in, or is there someone in
> charge of coordinating this? 
  
Subscribe to seul-pub (mail majordomo@seul.org with body 'subscribe seul-pub')
and then plunge in. Whenever you have stuff, post it there. If you don't get
any arguments, then we all like it. :)

I'll give you an account on cvs.seul.org so you can commit your changes
without sending them through me, if you like.
 
> > * I've written up a draft of an essay called 'Free Software Is Better',
> > describing the ideas behind free software, and describing many of the
> > arguments that companies and programmers consider when choosing whether
> > to free their software.
> > http://www.seul.org/pub/fsib.html
> 
> Would you like someone to look at this and give suggestions? I'd be happy
> to.

Sure. I think the next phase in working on it is to cut out the last few
paragraphs (the stuff after the comment in brackets) and rewrite them so
they're oriented towards the same audience as the first 2/3 of the paper.
Then publish it somewhere big, and get a lot of feedback, and then decide
if it's worth reworking.
I think the writing style is very effective (imho ;), and a lot of the
points that it presents are rarely presented all in the same document.
So far I've pointed intelligent end-users at the fsib, and they've come back
with "ahh...so *that's* how it works." So I'm encouraged. :)

But certainly there are some important changes that need to be made in
the first section of the document -- for instance, how on earth did I
expect to get away with citing Maxwell as proof that small companies can
rival Microsoft? :)
 
> I don't have much spare time either, but when I do I'd like to work on
> either of these projects.
> 
> Zonker
 
Thanks,
--Roger